America Walks Launches New Webinar Series

Inspiring Stories of Walkable Communities

America Walks is excited to announce its first series of webinars for 2015. Building on the theme of “Inspiring Stories,” these free Webinars will showcase specific walkable community successes achieved by local elected officials, health care industry leaders and seasoned campaigners. Designed for a general audience including new advocates, these stories will inspire you with big ideas and equip you with resources and tools to begin to make lasting change in your own communities.

Based on America Walks’ recently published case studies, this Webinar will feature three local elected officials who have used their status as political leaders to advance walking and walkability. Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, Columbia, MO City Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe, and former Arlington County Board Member Chris Zimmerman will describe their personal success stories, which include reducing neighborhood speed limits and inspiring citizens of one community to start exercising and lose a combined one million pounds.

“Walking is one of the healthiest activities you can take up, so this Webinar showcases two exciting programs from the health care industry. David Pauer of the Cleveland Clinic will describe how doctors, nurses, and other health care workers are modeling healthy behavior through the clinic’s employee wellness program, while Jennifer MacDougal will present Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation’s strategies to increase physical activity, with a strong focus on use of parks and trails for walking.

Join celebrated speaker and walkability expert Mark Fenton for a rapid-fire review of best practices for those beginning to build more walkable communities. Many communities are overwhelmed by the apparent technical challenges and cost of making themselves more walkable. But there are compelling, cost efficient, often simple approaches that are ideal first steps. Based on a series of interviews with some of the most experienced and successful walkable community advocates and implementers in the United States, this Webinar reveals starter-strategies that have been shown to work, and why!